This intro might be wordy, so stay with me. In 2024, the South Korean indie band The Rose performed at Coachella. They were the first Korean Pop group to perform at the festival. I received a text message from my friend, a cinematographer, stating that he was doing camerawork at Coachella. He mentioned the stage he was working on, and I told him we were watching it from home, waiting for a specific act to perform. My daughter was already a fan of The Rose, and we all sat down together and watched them perform their set.
Here’s the fun part. About 10 minutes after the band finished their performance, I got a text message from my friend. He sent me a video, and as it played, it was The Rose. There they were on my phone: Kim Woo-sung, Taegyeom, and Dojoon. Missing from the video was their drummer, Hajoon. They said hello to my daughter, said her name, and thanked her for being a fan. My daughter was in her room, so I texted her the video, and then it happened. My wife and I heard the loudest scream we ever heard, and she ran out of her room, jumping and excited for the message. Now take her scream and multiply it by a full house at The Chicago Theater, and that was how it sounded on July 8th when The Rose performed in Chicago.
This is the third time The Rose has played in Chicago. They played Lollapalooza in 2023 and did an after-show that weekend. The Chicago Theater is their third show here, and it is in support of their new album, WRLD. The group displayed their showmanship in how they played with the crowd throughout the night. The band began the show with an acoustic set, playing “Breath” as their first song. The song features Dojoon whistling instead of a chorus, and the whistle is soothing to those who hear this song. The band played a few acoustic songs, then broke into their electric portion of the show.
During the acoustic portion, the group was performing in front of a quilted backdrop. When the electric portion came about, the backdrop was removed to reveal a set that resembled an apartment. The center of the stage was a bed that was placed in front of “windows” that displayed a nighttime scene. As the band performed, the images through the windows would change to correlate with the songs being played.
Even though lead singer Kim Woo-sung was fighting a cold, his voice was amazing. At one point, Dojoon referenced him as “Sick Sammy”. The playfulness the group showed on the stage was something I was not expecting. When we saw their Coachella performance, they were focused and talked to the audience now and then. During this show, the band was joking with the audience, stating they were not the loudest crowd they have performed in front of. Kim Woo-sung playfully asked, “How do you not know the words to the song?” to which Dojoon replied. “Uh, the words are in Korean!”.
The group performed all of their hits along with their new songs off the WRLD album. The country-styled “Tomorrow” got the audience rocking in their seats, while “Lifeline” had all of the lightsticks swaying back and forth. The biggest cheer from the audience came when the band sang “Back to Me”. This song had everyone out of their seats, dancing and singing along. Between songs, the band would tell the audience to sit down and relax when they played their slower songs. At one moment, Kim Woo-sung thanked all of the dads, boyfriends, and husbands who were supporting their kids & partners for attending the concert with them. As a dad who is a fan of the group, this was cool to hear and much appreciated.
The band closed out their show with the technofused “Cosmo” and the Beatles-inspired “O”. Both of these songs are a great representation of the range that The Rose has. One minute they can be playing the smoothest ballad you’ve ever heard, and the next they will have you jumping out of your seat. “O” is the third song on their new album and is the type of song the world needs right now. “We are the world, No colors to divide, Just come as one, We go as one,” and on that night, the Chicago Theater was one single body transported to another WRLD, thanks to The Rose.